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The Hokage (火影, Literally meaning: Fire Shadow) is the Kage of Konohagakure, a title bestowed on the village’s leader. The Hokage is generally regarded as the strongest shinobi in the village. There have been seven Hokage in the village’s history.

The Hokage position was created shortly after the creation of Konoha by Hashirama Senju, one of the village’s founders. He intended the title to be given to his co-founder, Madara Uchiha, but the village’s population instead selected Hashirama as the First Hokage. Madara feared that Hashirama’s selection was the first step in making the Hokage office an extension of the Senju clan‘s authority, a fear Hashirama denied.[1] Despite this, all of the village’s Hokage have traced back to Hashirama in some way: the Second was his brother; the Third was his student; the Fourth was a student of one of the Third’s students; the Fifth is his granddaughter and another student of the Third; the Sixth was a student of the Fourth; the Seventh is a student of the Sixth and son of the Fourth.

The Hokage typically selects their successor. If they die or are otherwise incapacitated, the next Hokage is instead chosen by the daimyō of the Land of Fire pending approval by Konoha’s jōnin. If one of the Hokage’s predecessors is still alive, they may return to office rather than select a new Hokage, as when the Third came out of retirement following the Fourth’s death. The Hokage’s inauguration is a major event in Konoha, with most of the village attending. The new Hokage is granted a ceremonial haori on the occasion; the same woman has embroidered the haori for all seven Hokage.[2] Once they assume the duties of Hokage, their face is carved into the Hokage Rock and they usually move in to the Hokage Residence. The Hokage’s office is located in the administrative section of the Academy.

Hokage are responsible for most of the village’s day-to-day affairs, such as assigning the village’s ninja to missions or securing funding for the village’s projects and personnel. The Hokage spends most of their time in the village, only traveling abroad for events of vital importance to Konoha. Each Hokage typically lives according to the Will of Fire, a philosophy that holds that Konoha is a family and that the Hokage is chiefly responsible for protecting that family. The workload of Hokage can be quite formidable, and as such retired Hokage may continue to oversee certain sections of the village or, if not that, will advise the current Hokage on request.